STAFFORD. Tlie founder of this family in England was Robert, a younger son of Roger de Toenei, standard-bearer of Normandy, whose name appears in Domesday as owner of 131 lordships in Staftbrdshh-e and other counties. The Conqueror appointed him governor of the castle of Stafford, from which he assumed a new surname. From him descended the Dukes of Buckingham and several other noble houses.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.